You are our ‘W’ (a NU’EST Fanfic)
Hi hi, it has been a hot minute since I have written anything, whoops. Sorry about that. Anyway, this is still kindda late, but I got inspired by NU’EST rendition of Deja Vu at KCON LA (pledis stop being coward and officially release that shit). Feel free to reach out to give feedback to requests~
“I’m back, sorry for the delay rehearsals dragged on longer than we expected”, Minhyun trudges into the NU’EST practice room after a long day of musical rehearsals.
Being in a musical was a lifelong dream of his, but with the concerts and KCON and photoshoots and preparing new music the intense rehearsals and new genre was wearing him out. Yet the warm fox could only think I got to do better. Truth be told Minhyun was always very anxious. Behind his calm, cool, city-oppa face were worries and stresses he never dared reveal to anyone (even his brothers). Will the fans accept me again? Do we still look good as a group? Maybe the world wants NU’EST W and not NU’EST. Will those akgaes attack my babies again? Are we going to succeed as five? Was Produce and Wanna One even worth it? These thoughts weighed heavy on his mind ever since he returned to the familiar halls of Pledis to once again share the stage with his sworn brothers. These are things that plague his mind at night, robbing him of his sleep, even after the success of “Bet Bet”.
Success is fleeting, it could have been a mere fluke. Minhyun of all people understood that cruel reality of the entertainment world. That is why he is determined to work harder, not only for himself but for NU’EST. He couldn’t let them fail again.
With that in mind he looks around an unusually quiet practice room. The only sound that could be heard was the whirring of the air conditioning blowing at max speed. And the only sight to be seen was Aron, JR, Ren and Baekho huddled together in the middle of the practice room.
“What are you guys doing?” Minhyun asks while setting down his things and changing into fresh practice clothes.
“Planning our set list for KCON LA,” Ren replies his eyes not tearing away from whatever the four were looking at.
“Oh right, we wanted to do a special stage right? Maybe we could perform our older songs like VVITH, or maybe remix of one of our newer songs? I heard Baekho and Bumzu-hyung working on some stuff the other day it sounds really good,” Minhyun suggests lazily while fixing his hair in the adjacent mirror.
“Yea we could, but we want something that would be shocking and unexpected,” Aron sneaks up behind the tall pale fox and locked his arms behind him as if to physically represent the “shocking and unexpected” performance they wanted.
“Oh my gosh, yaaaa, hyung what are you doing?”
“Surpriseeeeee,” Aron teases.
JR gets off the floor and approaches Minhyun with a sneaky smile.
Oh my gosh they are gonna tickle me, Minhyun thought. Ever since August began the boys have been relentless in teasing Minhyun at every given opportunity, regardless of whether it is celebrating his birthday early while they were in Jakarta, or just random tickles as “gifts of love”. Even when his birthday passed their childish antics didn’t stop, though Minhyun undeniably enjoyed the attention as well.
Minhyun squints his eyes in preparation for the attack but all he was met with was a slight prick to his forehead. Cautiously he opens his eyes to come face to face with a giggling Beakho, JR and Ren.
“I’m not gonna tickle you, this is serious. Pick one this is your last birthday present from us,” JR laughs while showing off three envelopes for Minhyun to pick.
“What are they?” Minhyun questions suspiciously.
“The final piece to our set list, c’mon just pick one, our proposal is due to the managers tomorow we gotta hurry!” Baekho rushed while holding in his laughter.
Hmpfh, whatever, how bad could it be?
After Aron releases him from his arrest, he casually picks off the right-most envelope from JR’s hand.
“Oooooooooo, so you have made your decision. Let’s see what it is,” Aron quips excitedly.
JR, Baekho and Ren are also holding in their smiles at this moment, in anticipation of Minhyun’s reaction to their little surprise.
What is wrong with them? With one smooth action Minhyun rips the envelop open and takes out a small piece of paper.
On the paper it simply wrote “Deja Vu”.
“Haha, Hwang Minhyun you have chosen Deja Vu by NU’EST to be performed at KCON LA 2019,” Ren announced while mimicking Lee Dongwook’s tone from Produce X 101.
Aron, JR and Baekho begin celebrating the event but they notice that Minhyun hadn’t moved an inch, staring at the paper, eyes swelling with tears, on the verge of crying.
“What do you mean. This is my present? How is this a present for me?!! How is performing without me a present FOR ME?!! I knew you guys like to tease me but this is too much,” Minhyun yells in frustration and rubs away the tears in his eyes. In a fit of fury he grabs his bags and heads towards the door of the practice room, he was in no mood to practise with these assholes tonight.
“Wait wait wait wait, hold up hold up, you’ve got this all wrong, we aren’t performing without you, we are all performing together,” Baekho lunges forward and hugs Minhyun from the back preventing him from leaving. Meanwhile, Aron, JR and Ren form a human barricade between upset fox and the exit.
“How are we going to perform this song together?! You wrote this for NU’EST W, there aren’t parts for me. Unless you want me to just be a back up dancer for you guys, which i refuse to do!”
“Oh my gosh, what is going on in your head, and here we thought you were gonna love this. Hold on, gimme a sec, hold on,” Baekho struggles to keep a hold on Minhyun in one arm while he struggled to pull out a pair of earphones connected to his iPhone.
In a rough motion Baekho plugs a earbud into Minhyun’s ear and turns the music on.
At first it sounded like the original version of Deja Vu. Light and mysterious, absolutely beautiful, but to Minhyun it felt like it was mocking him for his absence. Just when he had just about had enough and was ready to make a break for the door the music changed.
The bridge, the bridge was different. A new tune, new lyrics and Bumzu-hyung’s voice?? What does this all mean?
The song comes to and end and Minhyun slumps in Baekho’s arms. “We made remixes of Where You At, Deja Vu and Help Me to fit you in. But they were all too good and we couldn’t decide which one to perform at KCON. We know that you love these songs and have always wanted to perform them but didn’t want to steal mine or Ren’s parts so this was our solution. It’s our last gift to you this year Minhyun-ah,” Aron comforts Minhyun with his calm tone as he gives him a warm hug.
“We didn’t think that it would cause this huge misunderstanding. We aren’t trying to exclude you, if anything we are going to include you in everything we do as a group,” Ren adds his arms into the hugging pile.
“NU’EST is 5, well 6 with we count our L.O.V.Es, but the point is, we can’t do this without you Minhyunnie. You are our ‘W’, so will you join us on this stage?” JR is the last to join in.
Minhyun chokes back the grateful tears that began rising to his tear ducts and says, “Of... Of course I will! I never want to leave you guys ever again!”
HAHAHHAAHHAHAH the boys start chuckling like a fatigued mess and they eventually end up tangled on the ground when they lose their balance. That night, and for the days to come, there was another responsibility added to Minhyun’s to-dos. Recording the new parts for Deja Vu, learning the old and new choreography for the smooth latin track, and rehearsing till the crack of dawn like he always does with his brothers.
It was exhausting, the stress tore away at every fiber of Minhyun’s body. But this was his utopia. He was their ‘W’ when the four boys were without him, but now NU’EST is whole again, and it always will be.
On the day of KCON, let’s just say the new version of Deja Vu was very well received ;).
